$36 Million in Contributions to Governors Expected to Be Hidden by IRS

The Internal Revenue Service is continuing to block public access to disclosure reports of the political money of the Democratic and Republican Governors Associations, as well as other Section 527 organizations.

Although required by law to be made public, the IRS has blocked access during July to reports from earlier years and has given no indication that new 2013 reports due Wednesday will be made public. It is estimated about $36 million in 2013 contributions to the two governors associations will be blocked from public viewing.

Democratic Governors Association

Political MoneyLine estimates the Section 527 account of the Republican Governors Association will report about $24 million raised in the first the first six months of 2013. In the first six months it raised $12.2 million in 2009, $28 million in 2010, $22 million in 2011 and $29 million in 2012. They also received large contributions, such as $3 million from Sheldon and Miriam Adelson in 2011-2012, $2 million from David & Julia Koch, $1.25 million from the Chamber of Commerce of the U.S. and $1.6 million from WellPoint.

The 2013 estimates of receipts mentioned above do not include the funds of the DGA's and RGA's 501(c)(4) accounts.

We have seen some contributions going to the RGA and DGA in 2013 from the reports filed by PACs. PACs have reported $1.3 million given to the DGA, including the Int'l. Union of Painters & Allied Trades Political Action Together Political Committee $200,000; SEIU COPE $100,000; American Society of Anesthesiologists PAC $100,000; Raytheon PAC $50,000; Honeywell Int'l. PAC $350,000; among others. PACs have reported giving 318,500 to the RGA, including Atmos Energy Corp. PAC $50,000; Raytheon Corp PAC $50,000; Employees of Northrop Grumman Corp. PAC $50,000; and Boeing Company PAC $25,000; among others.

The IRS stated the disclosure website was shut down in the beginning of July because of some Social Security numbers being included by filers of Form 990, the annual tax filings by political organizations. The IRS website has different check boxes for searching Form 990s, and Forms 8871 and 8872 for political donations. It is not clear why the IRS shut off the Form 8871 and 8872 searches.